THERE is an argument which goes that it’s not guns that kill people but people who kill people.

Seriously? Is anyone really sticking to that notion in the wake of the most recent US massacre in Newtown, Connecticut?

Well yes, apparently there is.

Even as I write there are those across the pond who will still defend their ‘right to bear arms’ and defend it to the death.

And there’s your problem. It’s not their death, is it?

It’s the deaths of 20 small children in a quiet suburban town who had the misfortune to happen across a highly disturbed young man with access to an arsenal of weaponry held by his mum. Weaponry held legally.

What kind of country is this? What sort of people value their semi-automatics over their kids’ lives?

Thankfully, for as many people who are against gun law reform there seem to be more for it.

After years of debate the tide is turning but it won’t be easy.

I like Barack Obama. Whenever I see him on the telly words like ‘statesman’ and ‘empathetic’ swim into my mind but he’s up against tough opposition.

Trying to reform his country’s gun laws could be his biggest challenge yet.

It could also be singularly the best thing he does in his entire presidency.